Is Virality Vital to Marketing?


As a marketer, I've seen countless fellow marketers struggling under the unsavoury expectations of virality---retweets, likes, shares, did you get them, if yes, how many, why so less?--sometimes the whole virality wagon assumes gigantically stupid proportions. Why this unnatural expectation that the moment you create something it has to be stratospherically viral?


Image credit: http://bit.ly/1kLnP7A

 Do you think we need to move virality away from campaign success definitions? The whole practice of the virality of your campaign being celebrated as an industry case study or best practice is unfair. What is viral today, is history tomorrow, given the velocity of social media. I came across a really interesting read on virality (For Pete's Sake, Brands, Stop Focusing on Viral; read here). To further my point, I quote again "It’s remembered in this context as a case study, not as an example of the brand’s quality" (read more here). Virality, positive or otherwise, never sticks. You are paving the way for a bigger, better brand some day, and you end up being an also-ran. The idea is not to aim for virality & lose sleep over it, but if it does get viral, then good. Virality should not be a prerequisite for the quality of a campaign.

Do certain products even need viral marketing? In the already cluttered brandspace, does a customer really care for a new FB game? Are those marketers really hoping that this "game" is the most definitive engagement tool in a era of me-too brands? Does it make your customers want to buy that brand? Slightly questionable.

The more I read, the more I dug, and the more I found anti-viral sentiments amongst marketers. Perspectives like "you can manufacture authenticity (read here) to "Content goes viral because people want to share it with others (read here) right to "You shouldn’t care about viral marketing" (read here)

I do tend to agree with some of the (more radical) thoughts expressed above. As marketers, our goal ought to correlate marketing with sales, lead gen, brand building and likewise (though we are all secretly hoping to own that 10 giga-billion hit through a viral piece of content), but I have made my peace. I do what I can-create quality (most of the times) content that a customer would be interested to read. Virality--you are welcome as long as I dont have to court you before content!

Do drop in your thoughts and experiences.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changemakers of India: Divanshu Kumar

Image
Hello everyone, In continuation with the series on Changemakers of India, we bring our very first interaction with the young social entrepreneur, Divanshu Kumar. He is the founder of the  non-profit ed-tech startup Involve Learning Solutions Foundation. Let's hear from Divanshu how education can be an instrument of social change and applaud this young social entrepreneur. Please tell us something about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey. I am Divanshu Kumar, a 2019 graduate from the department of Mechanical Engineering student at IIT-Madras. I come from Gaya, Bihar where I did most of my schooling. I run a non-profit ed-tech startup Involve Learning Solutions Foundation where we are preparing students for the needs of tomorrow.  Honestly, I consider myself as an accidental entrepreneur, because my inclination wasn't really on starting my company, but towards solving complex social problems which affected human potential. And while I was playing with the Idea ...
Read more

How to create compelling Call-to-Actions (CTAs)

Image
Image source: https://goo.gl/ZfJgBA As you are sweating over to create the most comprehensive and unique content, one small thing tucked away in your content could be undermining all your hard work. Call-to-action Oh yes, I know it - its the sign up here button. Hey, I've got it sorted. No - its not just that.  So what is a call to action? As outlined in this article on OptInmonster.com , a call to action is a word, phrase, or sentence that encourages the reader to take a specific action . Says this article on AdEspresso , there are two main purposes of a call to action: to tell someone what they should do and give them the motivation to do so. Call-to-action are the lifeblood of any campaign. Used correctly, they can act as the final push towards your goal conversion [free trial users, e-book downloads, form sign ups and so on]. Not used well, well, they will always choke the most beautifully designed campaigns. Think of call-to-action...
Read more

How can influencer marketing help your brand? Influencer Marketing Series

Image
Some people (like me) are born skeptics. Influencer marketing? Blah – why would that work? I know my audience – and I can reach them directly. I don’t need no influencer. But, think about this: In 2017, eMarketer reported that marketers spent $570 million on influencer marketing globally. In 2018, $1.6 billion was channeled into sponsored posts on Instagram alone. According to a report by Linqia , only 6% of brands said influencer content under-performed brand content. By 2020, more than 50% of ad content will be created outside of marketing . Marketing-inspired word-of-mouth makes 4x the impact on purchasing decisions [ McKinsey study ] Okay – so why should you think about influencer marketing? Maybe, you are in the B2B business and feel influencer marketing is not relevant for your segment, or maybe you feel your product doesn’t need influencers? Or it may be that you find your audience is not social media savvy – hence the need to obvia...
Read more